Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Crease Battle Brewing

With the Vancouver Canucks' signing of free agent goalie Brent Johnson, there should be a good battle brewing in the Canucks crease. Barring a massive letdown in training camp Dan Cloutier will, of course, be the Canucks' starting goalie, but after that, things should get interesting.

While mostly unproven in the NHL, if Alex Auld continues to progress and play towards his potential in training camp, then he starts the season with the Canucks, meaning that Johnson starts with the Manitoba Moose. This gives the Moose a respectable goalie combination of Johnson and last year's playoff goalie, Wade Flaherty. For a Moose team with a younger, developing group of defenseman - potentially two of their regular defensemen may start the season with the Canucks - having two solid, veteran goalies behind them can provide a sense of confidence knowing that whoever is in goal can be counted on to cover for mistakes and make some key saves.

Should Auld fail at the NHL level, Johnson should be able to provide the Canucks with more than an adequate back-up to Cloutier. Johnson has more than 150 NHL games under his belt and is not far removed from his 34-win season. He may even push Cloutier for the starting job - without offense to Martin Brochu, Peter Skudra and Johan Hedberg, something that recent Canucks back-ups haven't been able to do.

But probably the most telling stat to remember in Johnson's acquisition is his ability to play in the playoffs. While both Cloutier and Auld have posted good to great numbers in the regular season, both have yet to consistently do the same in the playoffs. In fact, of Cloutier, Auld and Johnson, Johnson is the only one to possess better numbers in the playoffs than in the regular season.

Cloutier

Auld

Johnson

Reg

P/Offs

Reg

P/Offs

Reg

P/Offs

GAA

2.64

3.31

1.82

2.49

2.28

1.84

SV%

0.90

0.87

0.93

0.89

0.90

0.93

The knock on Johnson has been his attitude and work ethic. Twice in the past he has refused assignments to the minors. That he signed a two-way deal suggests that he is more willing now to do so should the Canucks choose to send him. At the very least Johnson should be able to provide some goalie depth - with the Moose or the Canucks - and some healthy competition in the crease.